If you’ll join me, I’ll pour you a glass of iced tea and lead you out through the sliding glass door in my home to my backyard patio. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the air is cool under the shade of the umbrella. It is here we lean against the soft cushions on the patio chairs, sipping our iced tea, and we begin to talk. We could sit here for hours together, enjoying deep conversation about things that matter. We aren’t chatting specifically about the lawn I’ve been caring for, although it is making significant progress. To the side of us, green sprouts are slowly emerging through the thatched winter grass, primarily because of the care and attention I’ve given to the weeds. But no, our conversation does not turn to this entirely; it goes deeper.
The Topic of Our Conversation
I begin to share with you that I’ve had some time to reflect deeply on the lessons as of the garden as I have tended to my own backyard this summer. You already know that I’ve been pulling a lot of weeds that have taken over due to our neglect of the lawn, and that as I’ve been gardening it’s given me time to get lost in thought as I enjoy the task more than expected. See Garden Lessons 1 and Garden Lessons 2. I explain to you that it’s not necessarily just the task itself, but also the garden lessons that have brought me joy. This then leads us to the topic of our conversation.
My Heart is a Garden
I share with you that I see my heart as a garden, and in it exists soil. My heart’s soil can be hard like clay, or soft and tilled. It can grow beautiful, useful things. Or, it can grow destructive things.
Neglect Causes Death
Death can be tricky to detect. In the case of our backyard lawn, it was long, lush, and green. We thought it was healthy! Neglect to care for my heart is exactly the same. Neglect causes things to die that I’d actually like to keep around, and the growth of things that can be destructive, hurting me or the relationships around me. But so many times, it’s a slow progression from one to the other. Heart-neglect often starts small, and the problems it begins to create will go undetected if I’m careless to take notice.
Weeds Choke Out New Growth
They say a healthy lawn won’t get many weeds. That’s because when the root system is strong, weeds have no space to take root. That would explain why we’ve been fighting with weeds in our backyard. There is no root system for the grass because it’s dead. If we let the weeds take over, pretty soon they’ll choke out the areas of healthy grass too. Weeds represent those things in my life, specifically in my heart, that shouldn’t be there. They ultimately hurt me in the end. Weeds prohibit good things from growing, yet weeds can be prevented with a good, strong healthy heart-root-system.
You MUST Get the Weeds Out by the Root
I’ve noticed that if I don’t get the weed out by the root, it returns. When attempting to de-weed my life, careful attention must be placed on the heart. That is where the root ALWAYS lives. Yes, always. Changing anything is useless without a true change of heart. I know this because I’ve tried.
(to be continued…)
Read Garden Lessons 4 here.
